


Scars

by IrenkaFeralKitty



Series: Dream Dust [10]
Category: Yoroiden Samurai Troopers | Ronin Warriors
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Licking, M/M, Minor Scars, Naked Cuddling, Needles, Teasing, Tickling, mention of medical procedures, mention of needles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:40:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25682917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IrenkaFeralKitty/pseuds/IrenkaFeralKitty
Summary: Anubisu doesn’t like Seiji’s scars.
Relationships: Anubis | Cale/Date Seiji | Sage Date
Series: Dream Dust [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1809439
Kudos: 6
Collections: Dream Dust





	Scars

Seiji let out an involuntary giggle as Anubisu let his lips drift across his lover’s side, body twisting slightly in instinctive reaction to the faint ticklish sensation. He angled his head upwards some, nipping close to Seiji’s armpit and then dodged as Seiji’s elbow jerked downwards. Anubisu caught his hand and tangled their fingers together. As well as being sentimental, it let Anubisu control his arm without needing to employ more forceful measures. 

“That’s enough,” Seiji gasped as Anubisu folded his arm away and ducked back down. 

“Oh? I’m not so sure,” Anubisu replied before using the very tip of his tongue to lick a long stripe up Seiji’s side. 

His lover squeaked, hips twisting again as he tried to protect his vulnerable flank. Anubisu tightened the arm laid over Seiji’s waist and held him more firmly in place. Those fingers twitched and Seiji squealed at the sudden attack on the other side. 

Long legs bent upwards as Anubisu went after both of Seiji’s sides with relentless enthusiasm. It was hard to keep from laughing at the helpless sounds Seiji made and how futile his efforts to dislodge Anubisu were. The final measure, the one that earned him an actual shriek and a full-body spasm, was when Anubisu turned his head and buried his entire face in Seiji’s side.

Anubisu howled with laughter even as Seiji swatted ineffectively at his shoulders. Given that his face was still buried in Seiji’s side, the blows only made the masho’s tormenting cackles worse. 

Eventually, Anubisu took pity on him and calmed himself down enough to rest his head against Seiji. Tension lingered in his lover’s body as he waited for further attacks, but gradually relaxed when nothing further came. 

It was good to just be at peace for a time. Anubisu didn’t even feel the urgency to roll Seiji over and stake a fresh claim. It was just fine lying on the bed with him, still and calm. 

Seiji’s hand eventually came to rest in Anubisu’s hair as the last bit of tension left his body. His fingers moved gently, scratching lightly and rubbing at Anubisu’s scalp. It felt _wonderful_ and Anubisu practically melted right there, still half lying on top of Seiji. Even the leg he had thrown over Seiji’s was comfortable; Seiji’s shins were relatively slender when he wasn’t flexing his well shaped calves and they fit well under Anubisu’s thigh. 

His hand drifted over Seiji’s chest and abdomen at random, fingers gliding through wiry chest hair one moment and feeling the slowly growing softness around Seiji’s middle the next. Anubisu was glad that softness existed; it was taking time, but Seiji was finally adding some extra weight to his bones and Anubisu’s eyes eagerly drank in the sight of the slight thickening of his abdomen. It was a sign of their growing comfort and prosperity in their new world as well as provision against any disruption in their ability to locate food. 

The modern world seemed to have developed strange ideas for what a warrior’s body should look like. It was good to see Seiji gradually letting them go.

The moment of serenity stretched on and they were seemingly frozen in time. Seiji’s fingers continued to work his scalp, Anubisu was lost in the feeling of Seiji’s strong, sun-warmed body beneath his, and even the room itself was perfect: enough sunlight to warm the room but not so much that the room was bright. The air conditioner was silent, not blowing gusts of cold air over their naked bodies, and there was a feeling of hushed silence. Their neighbors (their exasperating, wonderful, obnoxious family) were even quiet for once. 

It was perfect. 

And then spoiled when Anubisu’s fingers found a mark he’d forgotten. 

The scar was relatively small, sitting between two of Seiji's ribs. It was barely visible to the naked eye, a faint line just barely darker that the rest of his skin. There were no signs of additional trauma or that the wound has struggled to heal. Indeed, it had been made quite deliberately by healers so skilled and knowledgeable than Anubisu couldn’t even begin to comprehend what all they knew. 

It was also that which had truly shattered the barriers Anubisu had built for himself to keep others away. 

He’d been enraged at first after he began to learn about the modern world. How dare they live in such prosperity, have such an abundance of food that overindulgence had become a greater burden than lack of food, and not even care that they had healers with such tools and knowledge that they seemed more like sorcerers than simple mortals?

In the light of his own troubled past, Anubisu had hated every one of them. He’d seen the shine and gloss of the modern world and felt such jealousy it was a marvel he hadn’t burst into flames from sheer outrage. 

Over time, he’d eventually learned that modernity didn’t mean perfection. The troopers were slowly revealed as mere humans and their quiet respect for Anubisu and the masho reassured them that their origins in the distant past were considered to simply be a small difference and not a sign of weakness or a need to be infantilized.

How different things had been revealed to be from what he’s originally thought. And how terrible some of the things he had learned. 

Seiji had struggled and suffered after the war with the Youjakai to a degree that was frightening. The wounds of those battles lingered in his mind and had been stirred up after they were torn from the safety of the mortal world. 

The stories had slipped out, first one, then another. Other details followed, as did the signs of Seiji’s distress: an occasional tremor in his hands, a temper that was easily set off on bad days, and nightmares that lingered for hours after he awoke. 

Anubisu had helped how he could. They often shared the first rays of the morning sun and dealt with whatever pains had visited them in the night together. When he could, Anubisu fought by his side and made sure he was with Seiji more often than not, for it seemed that the worst things happened when Seiji was by himself. 

And then, after he thought he’d heard all the stories of Seiji’s pain, one more had emerged. It was a smaller tale, one not triggered by the armor, but even more horrifying, in its own way. 

Seiji’s heart had never stopped in any of the others. 

Seiji had never actually died in the others. 

They’d gone out to eat as a group. Shuu had been talking Kayura’s ear off all afternoon and their conversation now turned to streets they walked past and the cars sitting lifelessly along the sides. 

Shuu has cautioned her, saying to be sure to look both ways down a street before crossing it. 

“Why is that, Shuu-san?” she’d asked, curious if there was a reason beyond the obvious. 

“I couldn’t stand it if my newest little sister got run over!” Shuu had exclaimed. 

“Yeah, we’ve already gone through that with Seiji,” Ryo added. 

Kayura had looked horrified. A knot had formed in Anubisu’s stomach and the entire group stopped to look at the blond. Sighing, Seiji had pointed out that he was fine now, see?

“Which means you weren’t fine _then,”_ Anubisu had said. The knot in his stomach grew until it had felt like it was trying to crawl up his throat and strangle him.

Later that evening, Anubisu had joined Seiji in keeping watch. The other man had undone his top and showed Anubisu the scar where the doctors had inserted a tube to keep him alive while he recovered from a punctured lung. He’d let Anubisu feel the small bump under the skin on the inside of his forearm where a needle had been badly inserted in the haste to get life saving medicine into his damaged body. The medicine had worked, but left Seiji with a scar hidden beneath his skin.

Three different events, two involving evil influences and another a freak accident that combined the stupidity and carelessness of others with Seiji’s inherent selflessness and grace. 

Three events. One which had killed him. 

Seiji lived now solely because of the magic of modern medicine. 

(Naaza had been eager to talk for once after they all learned about how Seiji had been struck by that motorcycle, and had sat down next to Seiji at dinner to pepper him with questions about the various processes that had resurrected and treated him. Anubisu had never been so close to stabbing the snake in his _life.)_

Seiji’s hand suddenly covered his, breaking him out of his depressing and frightening memories.

“I’m here now,” Seiji said softly but firmly. “I’m alive and whole. That’s what matters. That’s what I chose to focus on.”

“You almost weren’t,” Anubisu whispered. “You were nearly destroyed for good time after time. And I wouldn’t have known. I wouldn’t have _cared.”_

“There’s a saying in the mortal world. I assume there are older versions as well: those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.” The fingers in Anubisu’s hair continued to move, offering comfort. “Everything I’ve been through is in the past. I remember it and I do my best to learn from it. I know I’m still affected by it. It did damage me and much of that will never fully heal. But I can handle it, especially when you’re here to help me.”

Anubisu shifted, causing Seiji’s hand to fall away. He pulled himself back up the bed and slid his leg between Seiji’s - not with the intent to arouse, but instead to better hold him close. One arm went around Seiji’s waist, pulling him onto his side, and the other he used to prop his head up to look down at his lover. 

Seiji curled up against him, his body still relaxed and his head turned so he could peek up. He rested his head on Anubisu’s arm and draped his own arm over Anubisu’s waist. 

The right words were out of reach suddenly, so Anubisu settled instead for kissing Seiji. Their lips lingered together, air seeming to pass effortless between them. Seiji was warm, still filled with the heat of a sun he had walked directly beneath hours earlier. Anubisu always wanted to burrow into that warmth and feel Seiji’s hands brushing away old memories of being too cold for far too long. 

“No more scars,” he said when they finally separated properly. “No more being captured and tortured and killed. It would destroy me to lose you forever.”

Seiji cupped his cheek, his callouses leathery against the smooth skin. “I will do all in my power to keep from ending up in such a position ever again. You’re here with me now, which means I’m safer than I have ever been.”

His words were both a comfort and source of fear, because in this world, nothing was certain. But as long as they were together, the odds that they both emerged alive were better than ever.


End file.
